DISH Chairman Ergen says will consider talks over spectrumSays DISH Pay-TV is mature, Sling TV has upside potential. Says company has used most of cash on latest airwave aution. Says "comfortable" with current liquidity, it's not an issue. Says 600MHZ aution is key to leveling the playing field.

AT&T VP critical of Dish auction tacticsAT&T (T) VP of Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh stated in a post to a corporate blog that FCC Auction 97 represents "hard evidence that there is significant continuing interest in licensed spectrum... It didn't matter that it was mid-band spectrum. It mattered only that it was broadband spectrum." Marsh notes that Dish (DISH) won more licenses than any other bidder though "none of that spectrum is currently supporting commercial wireless services," with her suggestion being that "auctions should be designed to ensure that licenses go to those willing to deploy networks – not speculators or stockpilers...The government should continue to place a high priority on allocating new licensed bands to the wireless industry." Marsh continues her analysis of Dish, claiming the double and triple-bidding activity carried out by its two designated entities "circumvented auction activity rules, masked actual demand and distorted the auction," as they were able to win significant allocations while enjoying a 25% small business discount. In response to Dish claims that all companies use DEs, Marsh replies that "in more recent auctions... bidders like AT&T, Verizon (VZ) and T-Mobile (TMUS) had no DE relationships, participated directly and paid full price for their licenses." Reference Link

DirecTV downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BuckinghamBuckingham downgraded DirecTV (DTV) to Neutral based on lack of sufficient upside from the AT&T (T) transaction and views risk/reward as balanced at current levels. Price target lowered to $92 from $95.